More Shadows Attack 57 



appear dangerous in some locations. But it also is a proven fact that some 

 of those 'harmless' breeds have attacked, wounded, even killed human 

 beings in other areas." 



The foolhardy diver who has become contemptuous of sharks, be- 

 cause those he has met retreated from him, insists that sharks are cow- 

 ardly. The wise diver who has had the same kind of experience with 

 shy sharks says merely that sharks are unpredictable, for he knows that, 

 in his next confrontation, it may be he that flees, or attempts to flee. 



There is absolutely no way of knowing what a shark will do when 

 it encounters a swimmer— or a boat. Boats and rafts have been bumped, 

 bitten, smashed, capsized— even hoarded by sharks. There are several 

 well-documented cases of sharks leaping into small craft where, thrash- 

 ing their tails and gnashing their teeth, they have been as dangerous 

 and difficult to subdue as they are in the water. 



Natives of the Gilbert Islands ordinarily fear only one kind of shark 

 —the rokea— and it is feared because of its vicious attacks on canoes 

 and the men in them. If a fisherman is hauling in a tuna, say, and it 

 comes up half-eaten, he will cut the line to give the rest of the fish to 

 the rokea, a deep sea shark. Otherwise, the rokea will come after it. 

 Unfortunately, its scientific name is unknown, but it is not the Tiger 

 shark (Galeocerdo) which the natives know well, and of which they 

 are only normally cautious. 



Superstition? Sir Arthur Grimble, a former British administrator in 

 the Gilberts, in his book. We Chose the Isla?ids,'^ gives an eye-witness 

 account of just such an incident. 



"We heard a thud and a crack from a craft not sixty yards off," he 

 wrote. "As we looked up, there came another thud; a vast tail had 

 frothed from the water and slammed the canoe's side. A second later, 

 the whole fish leapt, and there was a third smashing blow. We saw the 

 hull cave in and start sinking. The rokea leapt again, and one of the 

 two fishermen on board was swept off the foundering deck by that fright- 

 ful tail. We saw him butchered as we raced to rescue the other man . . . 

 The survivor, a boy of seventeen, confessed with tears that he was to 

 blame; he had whipped a bonito aboard as a rokea was after it. The 

 demon's attack followed in the very next instant." 



Dr. Coppleson estimates that as many people in Australia are injured 

 by sharks "bumping" them or their surfboards as are injured by being 

 bitten. Why sharks bump into surfboards or boats is not known. One 

 theory is that they are curious, and somehow satisfy their curiosity by 

 charging the object. 



One of the more curious shark-boarding incidents on record occurred 



* Sir Arthur Grimble, We Chose the Islands (New York: Morrow, 1952). 



